Struggling with training your dog to recall? Feel like you aren’t getting anywhere regardless of the approach you are taking? read on and gain access to a 5 Day video Training Guide!

Are you struggling to train your dog in the recall exercise?

Trying to modify his or her behaviour in any respect but aren’t achieving the results that you are looking for?

Whilst this guide is specifically aimed at owners struggling with recall, the concepts within will apply to anything you are trying to achieve with your dog. There are a number of reasons that your training attempts aren’t producing the results you are looking for and we plan to share them with you.

If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got!
It always amazes me how many owners and even professional trainers continue to use the same approach even though it isn’t giving results. Dogs are very intelligent and respond very quickly to good training – if you are struggling with the recall it will be because your dog is struggling to understand what you require – this is easy to sort.

It is not the approach to training but the ability and skills of the owner that creates results.

Many Dog owners and lots of professional trainers will give up on a particular approach because they believe that it isn’t working for them and their dog. They immediately look for a new approach to training. I have seen all manner of different training techniques come and go over the years and regardless of the approach one thing remains constant;

A skilled trainer on the other hand possess all of the traits required to take on board a new approach, apply it to an individual dog and produce a result very similar, if not exactly the same as the last dog they trained using a completely different approach. If the trainer does not possess the required skills to help their dog understand then they will struggle.

You can take the proven best approach to training and put it in the hands of a person who has bad timing or an emotional reaction to their dogs bad behaviour and the training will fail. There are a number of essential training skills which are imperative to your dogs understanding.

How to become skilled at training your Dog

Unfortunately, using a conventional approach of reading books, researching online or visiting a trainer can only help you so much because usually the whole approach to training dogs and their owners is flawed.

It is scientifically proven that it takes around 10,000 hours of correct practice to acquire proficiency in a complex skill such as a new sport. But this is just dog training I hear you say? – Be assured, dog training is a very complex skill, its actually more complex than most others because not only do you need to learn the handling skills but you also need to learn how to read and react to an animal which learns and responds to its environment at least 7 times faster than a human and whose hard wired canine traits, in the main, run in direct contrast to what you are trying to achieve.

Over the years it has become apparent that there are certain habits that most owners of troublesome dogs all share in common. The habits are in the main completely subconscious. Because the owner doesn’t realise they are doing it, it doesn’t matter how often a professional trainer tries to stop the particular habit for an hour each week because as soon as the owner is alone again they will unknowingly recommence in their bad habit thus halting or reversing any progress made during the lesson.

The answer?

After studying and analysing the habits of over 1000 pet dog owners who are having issues with their dogs we have found the common differences between their approach and the approach of a skilled trainer.

We have taken the anomalies between you and the skilled trainer and applied the pareto principle to them (read more on the pareto principle here) to discover which ones we should focus on to get the biggest results with the smallest investment of time on your part. The result is a short list of easy to understand and apply principles which work in harmony with your natural tendencies whilst allowing you to really start communicating with your dog.

The anomalies and areas that you should begin working on right away to achieve success with training your dog and improve your skill set are (in order of importance)

Timing of consequence – Timing is critical, dogs react to their environment and the people in it at least 7 times faster than humans. In order for communication and proper reinforcement of behaviour you need to respond within a maximum of 1/2 a second to your dog regardless of if the dog is displaying a behaviour you want it to or a behaviour you want to stop.

Anticipation – Skilled trainers are aware that a dog will respond and react much faster than they will and they also know that dogs are creatures of habit. These two pieces of information combined lead to the trainer having to anticipate the dogs next move. If the trainer anticipates what the dog will do next then their timing will be exceptional thus leading to quick learning and understanding on the dogs part.

Talking too much – I’m not saying you can’t talk to your dog (I have conversations with mine all of the time) but the habit of talking to your dog at the wrong times causes so many issues it is unreal. Talking or repeating yourself to your dog when trying to modify behaviour however causes a knock on in four other areas which are very detrimental to your desired result.

Lack of praise – In direct contrast with the above anomaly is a consistent lack of praise both in terms of speed of praise (see timing of consequence above) and a general lack of positive input when your dog is doing what you like. It is human nature to notice misdemeanours often but miss small improvements in behaviour. You wouldn’t go to work if all you ever got was told when you were wrong and it is very common for dogs to feel like all the are getting is bad feedback. In a human world this tendency can be seen often between staff and manager or husband and wife.

Expecting it to go wrong – Human nature dictates that we want our loved ones to be successful. Our dogs are members of our families and we want them to be successful too but pet owners expect their dogs to get it right when good trainers expect them to get it wrong. The reason this works is because the trainer expects the dog to not respond correctly to a command or to perform an unwanted behaviour such as jumping up their timing of input will be excellent. Novice owners who expect it to go well will first have to process that it has not gone to plan, then decide on the appropriate action and then do it – by which time the timing window will have passed.

Is that all there is to it?

Well thats not quite all of the differences between you and a skilled trainer but these are the main ones and certainly the ones that if mastered will have the biggest impact on the success of your training regardless of the exercise or the behaviour you are trying to change. One thing is for certain though, without the above skills, it doesn’t matter which approach to training you choose because the approach will not work unless it is applied with excellent timing, clear communication of what is approved of, anticipation of the dogs next move and the expectation of habitual behaviour from the dog.

We have produced detailed explanations of these above anomalies along with suggestions as to how you can begin implementing solutions to them right away. We are committed to helping you and your dog achieve success together, to access these never before seen articles completely free of charge enter your email address below now.

Once you’ve learnt about these concepts we will give you free access to our Five Day Reliable Recall VIDEO Training Guide.

About the Author

Matt Wiggins

We offer a four week residential training course, where your dog will come and stay with WKD Trained Dogs. We will teach your dog general obedience to ensure they behave correctly in your home.